To avoid writing reports today, I have:

- Watched 'Smalltalk Diaries', a series of 15 minute 'documentaries' through the eyes of minibeasts from all parts of the UK, and an insight into what they would say if they could talk. Brilliant. My favourite is the Geordie cockroach. (We are studying Minibeasts as our Science topic at the moment though, so that makes it kind of ok...)

- Made my own Shelfari bookshelf- see side column. I'm quite a big reader and there are a few good ones in there, especially The Book Thief. If anyone else can recommend a good summer read or two, let me know! After putting all these books on my virtual shelf, I then decided it was necessary to locate exactly where each book was in the house and re-read a chapter of each.

- Written two blog posts in two days. When was the last time that happened?

- Re-read every single birthday card I've received over the last three years. It brought back lots of memories and some of them really made me chuckle! I can't believe how we all thought turning 21 was old. Reading old cards has also spurred me to get back into contact with a few friends I haven't spoken to for ages (partly because I'd like to receive a card from them next year...)

- Researched 'Knock knock' jokes on the web. My personal favourite is still:

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Little Old Lady.
Little Old Lady who?
I didn't know you could yodel!

HAHAHA.

- Finally got around to writing down favourite children's quotes/excuses from the last year or so in a little book. This was just after I'd asked a child why he was holding someone else's toy, to be greeted with the reply, 'I didn't steal it, I just found it in my hand...'

- Looked up the theme tune for Greenclaws on YouTube. I figured this might not trigger any memories, so here's a brief description of the programme: Greenclaws was a big green monster who lived in a greenhouse. Every week, Iris would visit Greenclaws. They would put a seed in a plant pot, put the plant pot inside a tree, wait for Owlma (a mechanical owl) to alert them that the plant was ready, answer three riddles/questions from Owlma (which were always along the lines of "Twit twoo, twoo, twit twit twoo?" and then translated into English by Greenclaws for him and Iris to solve), then open the tree to find the plant had grown in to something bearing unusual fruit. Amazing stuff. Now do you remember...?

Right, back to reports. I can hear you all getting your violins out...

Miss Heather 'You Never Mention Me In Your Blog' Orford

This is Heather:

Heather is very high maintenance. She's also my best friend (admittedly through default- there was nobody else around when I graduated uni...) So, to stop her moaning, this post is All About Heather.

We've spent quite a lot of time together over the last 2/3 years, and have developed a sense of humour which only the other person understands. This means that most of the time we spend together we end up crying with laughter, thinking we're hilarious whilst everyone else just looks on in pity.

A few facts about Heather:

- She was born on 7th September, 1983.

- There is a castle at the end of her road.

- When she doesn't like something, she'll say 'Oh, no thank you. I'm allergic.'

- Furthermore, when she doesn't want to do something, she'll say 'Oh sorry, I can't make it. I have a piano/singing/salsa (delete as appropriate) lesson.'

- She has a (bizarre) obsession with Hanson.

- In the film 'Sex and the City', she cried at the bit where Carrie gives her secretary a Louis Vuitton bag for Christmas.

- She will wear Ugg boots whether it's - 2 degrees or 32 degrees. To get her money's worth.

So that's Heather. We've shared a lot of good times together, and I'm not quite sure how I ever managed to survive without her!

(That last photo isn't really of me or Heather, but I like it.)

Remember that week which featured in my Top 3 Unfavourite Weeks of All Time? It's here again...

This is my life at the moment:



I'm one of those people who has to wait until the last possible moment before doing what needs to be done. Earlier this week, I was reading through some of my old blog posts from this time last year (it's impressive how much time I can spend amusing myself with my own stories). Anyway, as I read the stressed-out entries of a younger, more naive Katie, I realised that I have learnt nothing- a year later and I have Parents Evening tomorrow and a reports deadline in two weeks, and I'm even more unprepared than I was a year ago. But hey, at least I'm not making Wee-Mees to avoid doing work this time...

(No, instead I'm on here at 11.15pm writing a blog post, the night before I have to be at work from 7.45am-10pm and after a really hectic weekend. How I've grown.)

Have a good week :)

It's a whole lotta' fun...

For those of us lucky enough to be born in the Eighties... here is my little entertainment clip (read lazy blog post) of the week:

(Check out Pat Sharp's hair. And clothes. Classic.)



I have yet to meet a person in their early/mid-twenties whose childhood dream was anything other than to have a go in the Funhouse...

Half Term in a Nutshell

See if you can spot...

- Which county is featured (I went there to visit a friend who has just come out of hospital)
- A woodchipper (endless fun!)
- Ips-ich Harbour (you may remember from a previous post that I have a cousin who lives there...)
- London by night
- The lack of legroom at Dickens Unplugged! (A really, really funny show retelling Charles Dickens stories- it was even better than Dickens World!)
- Ben and Rich saluting outside IHQ- Chris took the photo before I realised I was in the wrong pose.

One picture I forgot to include was of Brass of Praise, a Swiss band who came to England to perform at Hadleigh last week (they also performed at the Royal Albert Hall as a little extra gig). They were really good! Unfortunately, they didn't have such a great experience afterwards, when we offered to take them all out for a drink (forgetting we had only two little KAs to transport 16 hungry and thirsty people into Leigh...) It was agreed that while I was playing taxi to the first few, the rest would walk to McDonalds and get picked up from there. Twenty minutes later, I pull up to find them all still outside in the cold. They all ran over and exclaimed:

Swiss People: We need your help! We need your car!
Katie: Why aren't you eating?
Swiss Person 1: We tried to get into the restaurant, but they said they were closed, and that we had to use the drive-thru window.
Swiss Person 2: So we walked to the drive-thru and they ignored us.
Swiss Person 3: (very confused) Then eventually he said that he couldn't serve us as we weren't in a car, and then closed the window.
Swiss Person 4: We said that we were from Switzerland and didn't have a car. He's still ignoring us.
Swiss Person 1: Is everybody this rude in England?

(I should point out here that it wasn't a busy High Street McDonalds. I could understand them being refused if there were loads of cars behind beeping. The McDonalds I'm talking about is just up the road from our corps, reasonably quiet and at the that time of night there were no other customers at all!)

I don't think we made a great first impression. These Swiss people and their high expectations...